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Friday, December 2, 2011

How to Make A Block Crayon Pouch

by
Rachel

What are block crayons, you ask? Well, crayons shaped like blocks of course. Made of beeswax, they're fun to use, smell great, and make beautiful pictures. A couple of years ago I bought my kids each a set for Christmas, and we love them. I bought ours from Paper, Scissors, Stone, I found them to be the most affordable at the time. They came in a tin, but I didn't like how the crayons rubbed their colors off on each other, so when you wanted to make a nice swath of red with the red crayon you'd get all these other colors mixed in. So I made crayon pouches for my kids, so each crayon would have it's own little cozy pocket to slide into, to remain free and unsullied by other colors. Recently our homeschool co-op bought crayons for the children, so I found myself making more pouches, and since some of the other moms wanted to know how to make them, I decided to post a tutorial here. A personalized pouch full of beautiful beeswax crayons would make a great Christmas gift, too.

You can start with a purchased piece of wool felt, or a felted sweater:Cut out a rectangle at least 8.5" by 11", I made mine 9" x 11" just for a little extra wiggle room on the sides, you can always trim off excess fabric, but you can't add more. If you do 8.5" by 11", you can just use a standard piece of paper as your 'pattern':

Next, take that same 8.5" by 11" piece of paper, and fold the top edge down to the bottom edge so you have an 8.5" by 5.5" piece of paper. Starting 1/4" from the edge, mark lines in 1 5/8" increments across the paper, top and bottom, as shown below. Using a ruler, draw a line across the page to mark the middle:

Mark the center of your fabric with pins, and line up the center of the paper with the pins:

Fold the edges of the fabric in to meet the paper and mark with straight pins your 1 5/8" increments:

Sew straight lines perpendicular to the folded edge where the pins were:Ta daa! All the little pockets for the crayons are done. Now you just need to add the strap. Cut a piece of felt approx 8.5" by 2", a little thicker or thinner will work fine:Fold the strap in half lengthwise and sew down the long edge:Cut an approximately 9" piece of elastic, attach a safety pin to one end, and thread it through the tube you just made. Pin both ends so they don't slip out:

Pin one end of the strap to the inside center of the crayon pouch and sew in place, being sure to attach firmly, this part will get tugged on:Fold in the sides of the pouch and roll it up as shown in the pictures below. This will help you to see where you need to attach the other end of the strap:Pin the other end of the strap in place on the outside of the pouch as shown, then unroll the pouch and stitch this. You'll be stitching right on top of the other end of the strap that you already sewed in place:

That's it, you're done! Now stick it in a tree branch and take a picture! (okay, this step isn't strictly necessary, just fun):